In Memory Of John Greenleaf Whittier Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDC EFEF GHGH IJIJ KGKG LMLM GNGN OHOH PQPQ RSRS TUTU NGNVG| December l September | A |
| THOU too hast left us While with heads bowed low | B |
| And sorrowing hearts we mourned our summer's dead | C |
| The flying season bent its Parthian bow | D |
| And yet again our mingling tears were shed | C |
| - | |
| Was Heaven impatient that it could not wait | E |
| The blasts of winter for earth's fruits to fall | F |
| Were angels crowding round the open gate | E |
| To greet the spirits coming at their call | F |
| - | |
| Nay let not fancies born of old beliefs | G |
| Play with the heart beats that are throbbing still | H |
| And waste their outworn phrases on the griefs | G |
| The silent griefs that words can only chill | H |
| - | |
| For thee dear friend there needs no highwrought lay | I |
| To shed its aureole round thy cherished name | J |
| Thou whose plain home born speech of Yea and Nay | I |
| Thy truthful nature ever best became | J |
| - | |
| Death reaches not a spirit such as thine | K |
| It can but steal the robe that hid thy wings | G |
| Though thy warm breathing presence we resign | K |
| Still in our hearts its loving semblance clings | G |
| - | |
| Peaceful thy message yet for struggling light | L |
| When Slavery's gauntlet in our face was flung | M |
| While timid weaklings watched the dubious fight | L |
| No herald's challenge more defiant rung | M |
| - | |
| Yet was thy spirit tuned to gentle themes | G |
| Sought in the haunts thy humble youth had known | N |
| Our stern New England's hills and vales and streams | G |
| Thy tuneful idyls made them all their own | N |
| - | |
| The wild flowers springing from thy native sod | O |
| Lent all their charms thy new world song to fill | H |
| Gave thee the mayflower and the golden rod | O |
| To match the daisy and the daffodil | H |
| - | |
| In the brave records of our earlier time | P |
| A hero's deed thy generous soul inspired | Q |
| And many a legend told in ringing rhyme | P |
| The youthful soul with high resolve has fired | Q |
| - | |
| Not thine to lean on priesthood's broken reed | R |
| No barriers caged thee in a bigot's fold | S |
| Did zealots ask to syllable thy creed | R |
| Thou saidst ' Our Father ' and thy creed was told | S |
| - | |
| Best loved and saintliest of our singing train | T |
| Earth's noblest tributes to thy name belong | U |
| A lifelong record closed without a stain | T |
| A blameless memory shrined in deathless song | U |
| - | |
| Lift from its quarried ledge a flawless stone | N |
| Smooth the green turf and bid the tablet rise | G |
| And on its snow white surface carve alone | N |
| These words he needs no more | V |
| HERE WHITTIER LIES | G |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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